Old Friends
by Doctor Foster
Summary: Rita's stay with her aunt in upstate New York is cut short by a dangerous visitor from out of the past. Can Larry and Rita save Aunt Del from the clutches of the mysterious Ian Karkull?
7

"Old Times"

Rita was already sitting in the kitchen enjoying her first cup of coffee of the day when her aunt, Delores Winters, entered the room. Although a generation older than Rita, Delores was still an attractive, young-looking woman with long lustrous black hair - though this morning, it was pinned-up and partially hidden from sight by a broad-brimmed hat worn by Delores to keep off the sun.

"I have to go into town this morning," Aunt Del announced.

"I can give you a lift, if you want?" Rita offered. "I'll have a look around the shops while you're doing your errands and we can travel back together as well."

Delores smiled: "That sounds fine as long as you let me buy you lunch."

"You don't have to," Rita replied.

"Oh, but I insist."

Rita graciously gave-in: "In that case, I accept," she said.

As they travelled into town in Rita's open-top Ford Thunderbird, Delores held on firmly to her hat and explained: "I have to see my solicitor. Apparently, an old flame has left something for me in his will."

"That sounds interesting," Rita replied, laughing.

"Yeah, it's probably his LP collection from the nineteen-sixties."

"Do you have a record-player, then?"

"I do! I actually, do!"

"Then I'm looking forward to hours of memorable entertainment!" Rita laughed.

At lunchtime, and as the weather was sunny and warm, Rita and Del took a table on the patio outside of the restaurant. They had a fine view overlooking the waters of Indian Lake but Del's attention was elsewhere. She looked suspiciously at Rita's packages neatly stacked on the spare chair at the table where they sat.

"I didn't think the town had that many dress-shops!" Rita said.

"I found two," Rita replied brightly. "Anyway, enough about my recent acquisitions: what did you get from your old boyfriend's will?"

Del shrugged her shoulders and looked away evasively. "It was nothing, really … Do you know, it's at times like these that I wish I hadn't given up smoking?"

"You want a cigarette?"

"Yes … No, well … not really," Del was clearly distracted. "… Anyway, what was I saying?"

"You were telling me what it was that your ex-flame left you in his will. Who was he, by-the-way?"

"Who was he?" Del replied wistfully. "He was somebody, once. You have probably know his name … It was John Thunder."

"John Thunder?" She took a moment before realization struck home: "… Who … not Johnny Thunder from the Justice Society?"

"Yes, that's him," Del replied nonchalantly.

"I didn't know that you knew him?"

"Oh, Ted Knight introduced us at a Hollywood Fund Raiser. We were together for about a year …"

"And what happened?"

"Well you could say that we went in different directions. Johnny was with the Justice Society fighting crime in all its many guises whereas I was enslaved by the evil mind of the Ultra-Humanite and doing everything in my power to destroy the Justice Society. It's difficult to retain a meaningful relationship under such trying differences!"

"Yes, I can see how it could all go wrong!" Rita replied. "But you never got back together after you escaped from the Ultra-Humanite's hold on you?"

"No. We had both moved on. Somehow, it didn't seem appropriate," Del explained.

"But he must still have had feelings for you … After all he left you something in his will. What was it, by the way?"

"Um … oh, the Thunderbolt!" Del answered hesitantly.

"The Thunderbolt!" Rita was genuinely surprised.

Later that afternoon, Del and Rita were on the lawn near the large apple-tree in Del's back-garden. Rita sat on the swing that hung from the tree. Del seemed distracted and reluctant to talk.

"You know how to summon the Thunderbolt?" Rita asked.

"Oh yes, the instructions were quite clear," Del replied.

When are you going to do it then?"

"Later, perhaps."

Rita was aware of a coldness in Del's manner. "You don't seem very keen to summon it?"

"Rita, I'm not. I have spent years up here at Indian Lake well away from all the strangeness of super-powers … I don't want the responsibility that goes with having control of a … genie!"

"Oh, I see. I didn't think about that. It's all pretty-well life-as-usual thing for me no matter how strange it may seem!"

"Yes, I know. But not for me!"

As they continued talking about this and that, they were disturbed by the appearance of a tall dark-haired man that neither of the two women recognised. He was walking towards them around the side of the house and as he approached, the two women stopped talking and watched expectantly.

"Can I help you?" Del asked the stranger.

The dark-haired man stopped and smiled. He seemed to be about sixty years of age; he was tall, and despite his age, still athletically-built and smartly dressed in a black three-piece suit of excellent and modern cut and style. The style of his suit contrasted with an oddly out-of-place thin moustache that clung precariously to his top lip. "Ms Winters, it is a huge pleasure for me to meet you," he said dramatically. "My name is Karkull, Ian Karkull."

"How can I help you, Mister Karkull?" Del asked.

"I am a huge fan of your screen appearances," he continued and then turned to Rita: "And if I am not mistaken, of you too, Ms Farr! This is indeed a special day for me. I had no idea that today I would be meeting _two_ such wonderful legends of the silver-screen!"

"I am sorry Mister Karkull," Del explained, "but this is my private residence. I must ask you to leave or I will have to call the police."

"Well, that's not how I expected to be treated! I have been a fan of yours for many years!" Karkull said. He then shrugged his shoulders and continued with: "However, that was not the primary purpose of me coming to see you today…"

Rita then weighed-in with: "Mister Karkull, you are trespassing. I suggest you leave, now!"

"I don't care whether you think I'm trespassing or not! I have come here today to take the Thunderbolt off your hands," he said confidently.

"How did you know about that?" Del asked, now suddenly made nervous by Karkull's manner.

"The Thunderbolt is not for discussion," Rita added firmly.

"I can see that neither of you has any idea with whom you are dealing," Karkull said.

"He speaks very nicely," Rita said for Del's benefit, "But I still do not like him!"

Rita expanded her size until she was around twelve feet high. "You'd better leave now, Mister Karkull before things get out-of-hand."

Karkull was unmoved by Rita's demonstration of her power. "You do not threaten me. I have stood up to far greater powers than a size-shifter!"

"I know who he is now!" Del exclaimed. "Karkull, yes! He fought against the Justice Society!"

"Indeed I did: well-remembered - though it is disappointing that you did not recognise me earlier!" He began to advance quickly towards the two women. "I am so sure that you won't make that mistake again!"

As Karkull moved towards the women, two shapes materialised out of the air at both his sides. The two figures were humanoid, powerfully muscled and strangely dripping with an oily substance that only increased the horror of their appearance.

These two figures swiftly grabbed hold of Aunt Del who screamed and struggled to break free from their hold on her. Rita grabbed hold of one of Del's attackers but she could not break its hold on her aunt. As she fought the attackers she caught a glimpse of Karkull just at the moment when he unleashed a bolt of mental energy that knocked her flying across the yard. When she recovered her senses she looked to see that Karkull, Del and her two attackers had all disappeared without trace.

Rita could think of no other immediate option: she phoned Larry and told him exactly what had happened and the address of Del's home.

"Just give me a few moments to get dressed!" Larry said.

And indeed, as promised, a few minutes later, a flash of light in the sky indicated that the Negative Man was approaching and carrying Larry in its arms.

"Hey, I thought you'd be all costumed-up by now?" Larry said indicating Rita's flowery summer dress.

"You were quicker getting here than I expected. I'll get my spare outfit from the trunk of the T-bird," Rita replied.

"Okay. While you do that I'll send N-Man to look for clues," Larry said as he sat in the seat recently vacated by Del. As he did so, Negative Man shot off to do as Larry had indicated while Rita retrieved her spare outfit from her car. She returned to the house and stood in the living-room to slip off her dress and change into her original green costume. She returned to Larry's side just as the Negative Man also returned.

"There's a fabulous view from here," Larry said and then added, "And N-Man has found a clue."

"That's great," Rita replied. "Where's the clue?" She then paused as a thought suddenly struck her: "Fabulous view … of what? Were you watching me change?" She looked from Larry's viewpoint into the house and could plainly see the place where she had recently stood to change her clothes.

Larry proclaimed his innocence: "Me, how could I do that with the N-Man zooming this way and that? Anyway, that's enough of your suspicions … Look here!" Larry indicated an area of Del's garden. There was a tiny glitter of something very bright but very small in the grass.

"What is it?" Rita asked.

"It's a remnant of a portal to someplace else. It's the likely way that Karkull arrived and departed or so Negative Man assures me."

"And it's still open?"

"Yes. If you shrink so that you can get through it and N-Man can go with you and once you're on the other side, N-Man can fly back to me and carry me back to you!"

"That would work," Rita observed, surprised at Larry's prescience.

She shrank down to a tiny size and could then see the portal as a door-sized gateway leading from Del's grassy back-yard to a faraway place. The Negative Man also squeezed down to a similar size and they both passed through the portal into a rocky desert-like landscape. Rita looked about and could see that they were now standing on the slope of a high mountain – with a high snow-capped ridge overlooking them to their right and a barren river-valley a long way off to the left. Quickly though, Rita indicated for the Negative Man to streak back to Larry so that he too could continue with the chase after Karkull.

As before, at Indian Lake, the Negative Man quickly arrived back carrying Larry in its arms.

"Larry, look what I've found," she said.

There was a ledge cut into the rocky slope leading to an ancient doorway cut into the face of the mountain.

"That looks old," Larry said. "Like an ancient temple or something out of _The Thief of Baghdad_!"

"Where are we Larry? Did the Negative Man tell you?"

"Bolivia, South America: this is someplace in the Andes."

"That explains why I thought the air was a bit thin!"

Very tentatively, they approached the ancient doorway into the mountain, pausing at the entrance to check for traps or signs of inhabitants.

"Someone's left the lights on," Larry quipped and there were indeed a series of electric wall-lights illuminating the short corridor leading to a larger chamber. Here, they came across the source of the electricity - a generator that was supplying the chamber with power and light. On the far-side of the chamber, modern furniture and computers had been installed – totally out of character with the ancient carved walls of the cavern-like chamber.

"Wow, it's an authentic super-villain's secret lair!" Larry whispered to Rita.

"Yes, take care. Karkull is a dangerous piece-of-work," Rita replied.

As they quietly moved further towards the lighted 'modern' part of the lair a zombie-like creature moved out of the shadows. It uttered an unintelligible grunt of a warning and pointed at Rita and Larry,

Karkull then became visible as he too stepped out of the darkness from beyond the lighted area: "Thank you, Everett," he said to the zombie. He then addressed Larry and Rita: "Well, this is a surprise! I honestly did not expect you to follow me!"

As Karkull stood his ground, the two oil-covered henchmen that had earlier grabbed Aunt Del ran out of the darkness and straight at Rita and Larry.

"Look out!" Rita warned Larry as she stretched her right arm to enormous length and swatted both attackers to the ground.

Larry unleashed the Negative Man who sped to attack Karkull but the villain was more than a match for the energy-being as with the power of his mind, he projected a force-screen that was able to repel the Negative Man's attack.

Larry shouted a warning towards Rita: "Watch out, Rita! He's protected by some sort of force-shield that N-Man can't get through!"

"Just keep him busy Larry while I try and find Del!" Rita shouted back.

"Keep him busy?" Larry grumbled.

The Negative Man tried to close-in on Karkull from all angles but each time he just bounced off the villain's blockade but it did seem that in doing so he was stopping Karkull from noticing that Rita had disappeared into the gloom beyond the lighted area. Rita had discovered there another room – a bedroom this one being softly lit and it was here that Rita found Aunt Del spread-eagled, tied by her wrists and ankles to the bedposts.

Rita was horrified; "What did he do to you?" she demanded.

"Nothing like that!" Del reassured Rita. "It was more threat and bluster than anything else!" Rita untied Del who massaged each limb in turn.

"We need to get out of here. Larry won't be able to keep him busy forever!" She then helped Del to stand and supported her weight with her shoulder as they exited the room.

In the main chamber, Rita and Del found themselves facing Karkull who was waiting for them arms-crossed and stony-faced. By that time, Larry was being securely held by the two oil-dripping servants and the Negative Man was nowhere in sight. "I will not let you escape," he said, "unless you give up the Thunderbolt to me." "That's not gonna happen," Rita replied defiantly.

"Very well," Karkull replied. "My patience is at an end. I am exhausted by this whole ludicrous affair." Karkull reached out with his hand and a beam of purple energy left his hand immediately freezing Rita so that she could no longer move. He now faced Delores alone. "Give me the Thunderbolt and I will let you live," he said threateningly. Del backed away until she felt the wall of the cavern at her back. There was nowhere else for her to escape as Karkull approached closer and closer and she felt the blackness of the wall creeping over her skin holding her to the wall like a physical force.

"Say the words," Karkull urged.

"I will not," Delores replied.

"Say the words," he repeated.

"No."

"You must!"

"No. I am the Ultra-Humanite! I do not give up anything to one such as you!"

"What did you say?" Karkull stammered, unsure now for the first time.

Delores Winters strained every sinew of her body and pulled herself free from the darkness that held her against the wall. First her upper torso broke free then her arms and finally her legs. She staggered to stand before Karkull. "I am the Ultra-Humanite," she growled. "And I bow my will to no man!" She reached out and caught hold of Karkull by the throat. At once the black-haired villain unleashed a bolt of purple-energy at Del but it bounced off a shield of energy that she projected from her mind. "I will not give you the Thunderbolt!" she said. "Instead, it is time for you to do my bidding. Release Rita and Larry Trainor from your hold! Do it now!"

With the strength of Del's super-human grip firmly on his throat, Karkull could do nothing but comply with the order he had been given and he released both Rita and Larry.

Del turned to Rita: "Are you alright? Has he hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine," Rita replied. "And you … What has happened to you?"

"Karkull has released something that I had hoped was long gone. It seems that I have regained some of my abilities from the time when I was the Ultra-Humanite."

"Oh!" Rita was uncertain whether that was a good thing or not.

"Don't worry, though," Del added. "It's still me." She then returned her attention to Ian Karkull. "Listen very carefully to my words, Karkull. You have a very nice place here, it's comfortable and out-of-the-way. You will stay here with all your special friends. You will not bother me again. You will forget all about me and Rita and Larry. You have never heard of any of us and you will have no desire ever to seek us out! Do you understand?"

"I understand," Karkull replied meekly.

"Good." And with that Del releases Karkull from her grip and turned to Rita and Larry. "Come on, let's get out of here. There's no need to bother about Karkull. I have removed all his memories of us from his mind."

Larry checked with Rita: "Is Del still one of the good-guys?"

"I think so," Rita replied. "Let's go!"

As the three hurried from the main chamber Del paused at a small wooden table and picked up a strange ornament – a multi-faceted crystal ball that had been placed there. Del looked at it strangely: "This is Karkull's transportation device. It's a teleporter – probably alien in origin."

"Are you sure?" Rita asked.

"I am. We can use it to get back home."

They reappeared back on the grassy bank overlooking Del's back-yard at Indian Lake.

"I'm not sure how I'm going to describe today when I come to write about it for my diary," Larry quipped to Rita.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," she replied.

"Never mind all that," Aunt Del said. "Look at that sunset! Have a seat on the veranda while I get you some of my home-made lemonade."

Later, both Rita and Larry watched Aunt Del with some trepidation as she poured them her home-made drink. "And later, I'll share with you the secret of the best martini ever, but that's for later," she quipped.

"Del?" Rita asked carefully. "How exactly did you free yourself from Karkull? Are you the Ultra-Humanite?"

"I suppose I am, in some way. Some remnant of that being's power has stayed within me though I can assure you that I am quite capable of controlling it. I am Delores Winters, Rita's aunt. I am not the murderous super-villain that once struggled against super-heroes. I am not that person anymore."

"And what about the Thunderbolt?" Rita asked.

"Yes, the Thunderbolt is mine."

"But you didn't call on him to free you from Karkull?" Rita added.

"That's right and I never will. The Thunderbolt is happy where he is. Why should I ever call him to do the cleaning-up in this world? That's not very fair on him, is it?"

"No, I suppose not," Rita agreed.

"So you'll just leave him be … wherever that is?" Larry asked.

"Yes, I will. I have no need of a genie and I don't think anyone else should have a genie either," Del replied.

"But you have the powers of the Ultra-Humanite again," Larry added. "But you're a good-guy now so, are you thinking about pulling on the leotard and taking up super-hero stuff? Coz I can totally see you in a leotard."

Del touched Larry's arm reassuringly and smiled: "That's sweet, Larry, but no. That life is not for me."

Larry added: "Still … if you ever change your mind?"

"Why would I give up all this here at Indian Lake for all that super-hero stuff? No thank you."

"Larry," Rita said firmly. "Just drink your drink. Del is fully aware of what she wants to do with her life."

"Changing the subject," Del said. "Larry, how would you like to see some of Rita's baby-pictures? I have quite a collection of old family photos!"

"I'd like that very much!" Larry said with enthusiasm.

Rita groaned.

[END]


End file.
